How Much of a Vinyl Addict Are You?
A couple of quick things before I get down to a real post about real jazz vinyl.
My son sent me this article 18 Signs You Are Addicted to Collecting Vinyl. You’ll enjoy. Everyone here pretty much knows that he’s an addict, so it’s not a question of which of these applies to you, it’s a question of which ones apply the most to you. I counted about half for me, including all the ones about home decor.
For those of you in Manhattan next Monday (not me, unfortunately), there will be a memorial service for Horace Silver at 7 p.m. downtown on the Lower East Side at the St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church. I’m assuming that, because it is being publicized, it will be open to the public. Maybe I’ll change my plans and try to get there.
Here’s one to break your heart. It certainly broke mine. I was having dinner with a friend last night and he said he recently knew of a family wherein someone passed away who had a collection of about 20,000 records. The family didn’t make much of an effort to sell the records or find a home for them. The tried a couple of libraries, but didn’t even call any record stores. My friend forgot to tell them about me. The records ended up in a dumpster. Seriously.
Even though I do buy a lot on CD for the simple fact that so many is available in that format for cheap, I will most certainly call myself a vinyl addict. Everything in that link applies to me. Spent the first half of my life collecting seventies funk and now, to a lesser degree, Jazz – everything on vinyl. The man cave upstairs is my vinyl sanctuary. Guilty, your Honour.
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And that story of that family that allowed 20,000 records to end up in the dumpster? A true nightmare. Were you able to figure out what kind of collection it was? Was it Jazz? Please tell us more, Al.
He said it was all kinds of music, all meticulously kept and categorized. He said there must have been more than 100 Ella Fitzgerald records, which tells me there was more than plenty of jazz in there. To be fair to my dinner host who told me the story, we haven’t been particularly close friends and I probably wouldn’t have been the first person to cross his mind. I also think that the family dumped the records quickly, without really exploring too many options.
I’m on a temporary buying freeze but I still think about and look at records every day, so I’m definitely still an addict.
Too bad about that collection being dumped so unceremoniously. It’s amazing to me that a place like Academy didn’t even cross their minds – they advertise heavily and buy tons of collections.
‘All meticulously kept and categorized’. The fact that they knew that it was such a well maintained collection makes it even worse.
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And good friends or not, in a situation like this I think it’s just plain dumb that he never contacted you before they threw the whole lot in the dumpster.
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But it’s all said and done. A crying shame. Makes you wonder what those people would have done if their family member had a collection of 20,000 paintings in his house… 🙁
It just reminds one to make sure you have “the talk” with a loved one:
“You can cremate me,but here’s how my lps are to be taken care of…”
Btw,drive safely over the holiday weekend,folks!(lol)
Wow,
This is indeed sad and I have heard similar stories although not 20,000 records. Maybe in the hundreds or low thousands. (Which is bad enough)
I know many big collectors here in Toronto and like myself, I can tell you their perspective partners family are fully aware of what they have and even in some cases who to contact if in case they need to sell. One guy I know has his whole collection cataloged with rough prices in computer.
My wife knows the value and historical significance of most of my collection. It will not go to a dump nor sold to dealers for $1-2 a record. God Willing….
I will gladly take any of your collections should one of you carc’ it.
Open Question to all :
I have Prestige 7043 on Both the Yellow Fireworks Label and Blue Trident Label. I find the Blue Trident is a better sounding record and both of my copies are very clean. Has anyone experienced the same thing where a later pressing sounded a little better/fuller ?
Al? Anyone ?
Joseph, that can indeed be the case.
First pressings does not have to sound best. Represses with fresh stampers can sound just as good. If your first press is late in the stamper run it can sound less good and if the repress is among the first it can sound better.
You did not say if it was identical matrix numbers that would indicate the same “mother” for the stampers?
Then there is the possibility of better vinyl quality, flatter record, better centererd record, record played less with better cartridge etc etc.
If it’s not the same Mother stamper a new mastering can of course sound better or different.
So there is a number of reasons – the first press generally being the more collectible no matter how it sound compared to latter pressings..
I attended Horace Silver’s memorial ceremony last night in NYC. It was a beautiful moment with kind words from family as well as Lou Donaldson and Louis Hayes. Horace was a well respected man. I would had loved to see him live but my passion to jazz came too late. cy